Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

I'm a docent at a zoo, and we have 2 blue tounge skinks in the education department. A while back, a guy got bit when his finger brushed up against the side of one of the skinks mouth. One of the educators did some reach and read that blue tounge skinks have a reflex that causes them to bite anything that touchrd the side of their mouth. apparently like an alligator has to bite when something tocuhes their tounge. Is this true? The skink that bit the guy is quite aggressive and will try to bite anyone that tries to handel him, but the other one is very docile and easy going and has never tried to bite anyone. I'm just curous. The only reason I'm not sure that I believe the reflex thing is that I've never read anything saying that they have a reflex like that. Any info would be great!

This is defiantly not the case. We wipe around our skinks' mouths daily after they eat and even our most aggressive skink doesn’t bite when we do this.

I've also wiped around my skinks' mouths for cleaning and they never even attempt to bite.

Ok. Thanks! That's what I thought. Although the small one, Bart, does seem to enjoy trying to bite us, I didn't think it was that he had a reflex to bite, I was prettys sure he was just aggressive. Oh well, I guess we'll have to keep working with him.

Thanks again!

Jonathan

You mentioned that this skink is aggressive toward anyone that handles it, which leads me to believe that it was not a reflex, but more likely a skink that is not wanting to be handled, and protesting this in the only way that he knows how to (and one that probably works well too). That being said, I will also tell you that many calm BTS have will bite a nice soft warm finger if it touches them on or in the vicinity of their mouth. This is pretty common with BTS, but it is not exactly a reflex (at least not for 100% of them), as some BTS will not open up their mouths for anything. However, out of the ones that do it, there are a few of them that will do it every time consistently almost like it is a reflex. So basically, the question is a tough one. As a species my answer is no. In regard to this one specific skink, my answer would be probably not (but I have not handled it, so I can't be sure). In regard to other specific specimens, my answer would be maybe.

n/p
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Edward
Carpe diem

From the info I have on the two skinks the zoo has, they're Tiliqua scincoides.

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

Hello,

For what it's worth, I concur with the other's. It is not an automatic bite reflex. I side with James Wilson that you just have an aggressive individual (I have been fortunate in having dealt with only sweet ones. The closest to a mean one was a feale who hissed when picked up but after a week never hissed again. I generally trust them implicitly with children.) I have heard it is a serious painful bite but pales in comparison to the bite of Corucia Zebrata with it's strongly developed ligamentous sheet and weakly developed quadratojugal ligament.
Check your set-up. Perhaps there is something missing or disturbing for this individual. If housed with the other you mentioned, perhaps there is a basic incompatibility between the two.

All the best,
Brian
SFCRC

Simply put, most lizards and alligators will bite If you put something in there mouths. They eather say, "I like the way it tastes, I'll eat it!" or, "I don't like the way it tastes, If I bite it, it will get out of my mouth." It is a gut reaction with many reptiles. And they don't like to have the side of their mouths rubed either. I had an anole that I wanted to move because it was blocking something, so i moved its head gently and he bit! Don't worry aboout it.